Didier and Philippe stood frozen, struggling to understand what they had just witnessed. The phantom before them had calmly reattached his arm as if nothing had happened at all. Fighting was no longer an option as their enemy could simply reattach himself again and again. The only choice left was to run, nothing more, nothing less.
But by now, Gabriel must have already finished with the climb. Philippe glanced over his shoulder to see whether Gabriel had finally made it up the embankment and in that brief instant, he saw him reaching the top.
Yet, even with Gabriel safely above, escaping remained completely uncertain. The phantom would overtake them long before they could even reach the embankment. Even turning their back to try and run was risky.
Before Philippe could react to that realization, the phantom leaped toward them in a state of total frenzy. In that split second, its nail barely grazed Didier's left cheek, leaving drops of blood flow out of the wound.
Then, an arrow sliced through the air and passed straight through the creature's skull yet again. The force of the arrow sent the phantom that was still midair, flying backward into a tree.
This time, the phantom wasted no time reclaiming control of his body. It had already adapted to the pain and without hesitation, it turned its gaze towards the source of the arrow, then shifted it towards the two figures climbing the embankment.
The monster decided to remain still and to smile. Its expression warped his face beyond recognition and made the corners of his mouth, his oral commissures, to split. At first, it was slow, and then, the flesh started to tore wider until it ripped apart entirely.
His once blank eyes slowly began to change as they turned into a deep red, almost like blood. During all of this, the phantom's nails started to slowly grow into a 15 centimetres killing machine. For the phantom, the hunt had finally begun as he slowly transformed his body in preparation for the feast.
Didier and Philippe hurried as much as they could, climbing with all their strength, trying to escape the phantom. When they didn't hear any sound behind them for a moment, Didier glanced back to see where it was and to his surprise, the phantom's appearance had completely changed.Even with this change, it didn't pursue them, instead, it waited, as if deliberately giving them time to flee.
Of course, that only meant the creature was confident enough it could easily catch up with them. This was indeed not a good sign for the group. It was clear that slowing down was not an option either since if they did not run, the phantom would likely lose patience.
As the pair neared the top, Jacob and Mathieu reached out to help. From what they could tell, the phantom would wait until they were out of sight before coming after them.
As they finally reached the top, they didn't stop to see what would happen. Running deeper into the forest was the only option they had left. After a few more seconds of silence, Didier glanced back again, and to his surprise, the phantom had already climbed the embankment. The beast stood completely motionless near the edge of the embankment, watching them with its gruesome smile.
"SHIT, GUYS, HE'S ALREADY BACK."
Gabriel quickly glanced back in disbelief. Even if phantoms possessed far greater strength and mobility than humans, it had scaled the embankment in an instant. Even thought he was shot, that climb personally took him 1 minute and a half. The sight of the phantom's abilities drove the group to run even faster than before. Extreme adrenaline was now surging within their bodies at full force to keep them alive and kicking.
Yet again, the phantom was motionless. It was clearly waiting for them to advance, waiting for them to run.
The group sprinted through the dark forest, their breath was uneven and uncontrolled, showing that each and every single one of them knew the danger behind them. Behind them in fact, the phantom did not give chase, it simply waited. Watching the group as if allowing them a head start before it's hunt began.
After what felt like entire minutes, a screech emerged from behind the group. When they turned around to see in the distance, they could see that the phantom had now started to move towards them at a slow pace. For a moment, it advanced with calm and then, it surged forward.
Arnaud then decided to break away from the group, hoping to find another chance to attack the phantom. He quickly hid behind a tree, drew an arrow from the quiver at his right side, set it into his compound crossbow the best he could, and steadied himself as he waited for the perfect moment to shoot.
The others quickly understood his plan. They decided to let Gabriel and Mathieu keep moving forward within the forest while they stayed behind. You might ask yourself, why them? It was quite easy to resume in fact. As you already know, Gabriel got shot for the first time in his life by a real gun and so, making him fight the phantom was a rather questionable choice. For Mathieu's case, it was rather more complicated. This guy had never fought something in his life. If you could call him by a nickname, you could call him by : the chill guy. Making him fight for the first time in his life against something that wasn't even human was a horrid idea.
Philippe hated the idea of fighting the beast again, but now was not the time to dwell on the horrors of the recent events. His focus had to be on countering the phantom or to find a way to maybe even scratch it.
Since the phantom's nails were far longer than before, the creature would most likely continue to use them like spears. If the beast did that, it could potentially strike multiple opponents at once and in their case, that wasn't looking good. Philippe knew he had to warn the others or the consequences would be catastrophic.
"Watch out for his nails when he attacks, from what I've seen, he uses them like a spear for a pretty strong strike."
This time, the group didn't need to wait for the phantom to appear. Its speed was beyond normal unlike earlier. The nail of the phantom reached Philippe's face in an instant when then phantom was at least 10 meters away from the group. It was as if time itself posed no obstacle.
Philippe barely managed to react at the last second, barely blocking the nail. The force of the phantom's strike sent the Philippe's blade through the air and embedded itself deep in the ground.
The phantom wasted no time forming his weapon again. It formed it's fingers yet again into a spear, ready to end this once and for all with Philippe. Victor, without making a sound, lunged from the left and tried striking his katana at the phantom. Although before the strike could land, the creature disappeared out of thin air.
One moment, it reappeared to the right, then to the left, and then directly above him in repetition. It was as if the phantom tore space itself to vanish in speeds that could be considered impossible.
Suddenly, he phantom didn't reappear, at least not in front of Victor. The phantom didn't waste any second and gripped Victor's neck from behind him with absolute strength.
Before the creature could inflict more apparent damage, Didier swung his Viking axe in its back. The weapon managed to embed itself within the creature's flesh, letting it get stuck there. This time, the phantom made no sound of pain at all. Instead, it twisted its head backwards to look at his opponent, and then, its arms and legs also twisted along with sounds of bones cracking. Before continuing to move, it finished with twisting its torso. The phantom couldn't help but smile at another daring opponent. It wore a smile more happy, yet horrible than anything they had ever seen the phantom do before.
The phantom then let go of Victor as this one then gasped for air as he tried to distance himself from the phantom. The monster then slowly lifted the axe from its body and took a few steps forward, approaching himself from Didier.
Then, it let the weapon drop to the ground just in front of Didier. The phantom then pointed the axe with his index and then Didier's hand. It wasn't trying to mock him or anything, it wanted Didier to fight, it wanted a fight to the death.
Throughout it all, the phantom had completely forgotten about the hidden Arnaud. He waited for the perfect moment to strike since the beginning, and that moment had finally arrived. He knew that a chance like this might never come again. Why? Because the extravagant number of trees started to cover his field of vision and seeing where the phantom would go next would be almost impossible. So, he squeezed the trigger before Didier could get attacked.
The arrow was aimed straight for the phantom's head but this time, it never found it's mark. The phantom caught the arrow effortlessly without even looking in Arnaud's direction. Slowly, it turned its head in Arnaud's direction, it's eyes finally seeing the real threat within this group.
The phantom then released a deafening scream. The surrounding shadows within the area then proceeded to freeze in place. Even as the objects casting shadows continued to move, the shadows did not. Then, the phantom stepped onto its own immobile shadow and slowly sank into it with a smile filled with excitement.
Everyone knew it was still nearby, yet no one could see it, it had disappeared. That clearly meant the myth that phantoms moves among shadows was indeed true. Leaves of trees and plants rustled, the wind screamed, but no one dared to move, not even the shadows themselves. Only Philippe broke the tension. He who decided it was the only moment to run for his fallen sword before the creature could reappear from possibly any shadows within the area.
Arnaud who now knew the phantom was possibly on his tail reached for his left side quiver to reload, but he found nothing, no arrows were present. Wait a minute. He knew he still had arrows left in his left side quiver. They had been there moments ago. Now they were gone? Out of nowhere, Alexis screamed in Arnaud's direction with clear desperation in his voice.
"ARNAUD! BEHIND YOU!"
Before he could turn, a nail drove into his shoulder, stopping just before his glenohumeral joint. The pain made Arnaud scream at the top of his lungs. The scream was strong enough to reveal his position to the rest of the group. The phantom had found him.
The others didn't want to lose another comrade this early. They rushed toward Arnaud, desperate to save their friend at any cost. They hoped that reaching him might somehow keep him alive. The phantom then took Arnaud's body from it's nail and threw him against the very tree he had chosen as shelter moments before.
Then, the phantom raised a hand to its own neck. Its fingers entered its own flesh and started to move its inside. The beast moved with upmost precision. It moved its joint cavities, ligaments and tendons to form into new alignments. The surfaces of bone could be heard cracking against each others as the phantom's flesh moved. You might think it was reshaping itself to eat Arnaud in the most monster-like form possible but, no.
The group hesitated a bit when they got about 4 meters up to the phantom. Why would it do that? For what purpose? If they could figure that out, they might be able to counter what the phantom would do and save Arnaud's life.
Before they could concoct a plan however, a sound began to escape out of the phantom's mouth.
"Tr… o… un…"
Arnaud replied on instinct, like the short and clueless 17 year old boy he was.
"What?"
The sound came again, this time, the sound was a tone lower. The sound was more controlled, more beast-like, as if the phantom were tuning itself before a music band presentation.
"Try… to… run."
A heavy silence fell on the group who tried to make a plan less than a second ago. Did a phantom just speak human language? And more importantly, it told them to run? Without warning, the voice rose into a deformed scream. The reason why it must have seemed deformed is probably because it spoke a language it used for the first time in it's existence.
"TRY TO RUN…TRY TO HIDE."
The phantom quickly followed by extending its arm and pointed towards a building deeper in the forest. The building wasn't very visible because of two reasons. One, it was because of the high number of trees and two, the building in question was about one kilometre away from them. The phantom was unmistakably asking them to run and hide in the building. It most likely wanted to play hide and seek with it's newfound prey. But, they were too stunned by the sudden change in the phantom's attitude to move.
The thing standing before them had just shaped its own body to form their words and language. It was speaking a language it had never been taught, after all, this thing was supposed to only be a myth. It was supposed to be a thing that didn't exist. It was a thing that was supposed to be made up, only to make kids more obedient during nightime.
How it was even possible for it to speak was the only thought in the group's minds. Realizing what the group was thinking, the phantom spoke again. This time, the voice was very different.
It came from its mouth, but it no longer seemed forced, it was as if it reflected something like an audio on a cellphone. The voice was clear and unmistakably human, the voice was clearly a woman's voice.
"TRY TO RUN, TRY TO HIDE, PLEASE, HIDE!"
A sudden chill ran through them as they continued to listen the voice coming from the phantom's mouth. The answer to the sudden mystery was revealed in an instant. It had never learned their language, no, no, no. It had taken it from its victims. The very essence of the voice had been heard before. It had been torn and eaten from one of its victims and reshaped into something it most likely could use. It was not speaking, it was simply echoing what it had heard from one of it's previous victims
Jacob couldn't take it anymore. He bolted in the direction the phantom had pointed, and started to scream at the top of his lungs:
"WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING? DO YOU ALL WANT TO DIE? RUN!"
It was obviously cowardly, yes, but it was the only choice remaining, after all, anyone would have done the same in a similar situation. The group quickly ran towards the building ahead. As they approached it, they realized it was a popular supermarket, "Hakaro's market". This supermarket sells not only food, but also essentials like survival kits and utilities for your first house. Food was not the problem at the current moment since they are getting chased right now. Plus, Gabriel has the backpack, not them. The two boys from earlier had left for the bunker and were not present.
When the small group reached the supermarket doors, Didier remarked a somewhat troubling fact.
"Umm guys? The doors are locked."
Arnaud let out a sharp laugh and coldly answered, "This is not the time for jokes. My shoulder just got pierced by that monster, and I know Hakaro's market have bandages so we have no time to waste with your bullshit."
"I am not joking," Didier replied in an offended voice.
"Just break the door like last time," Arnaud coldly answered again.
"Last time, it was a wooden door. This one is a metal one. I had completely forgotten that Hakaro got stolen many times recently so he switched to a metal door." Didier finally said.
While Didier and Arnaud were yelling at each other, Alexis noticed a security camera mounted on the wall. It was functional, though it barely moved. Just as he thought about looking away, the lens shifted and pointed directly at him, catching him off guard.
"Guys, the camera just turned towards us."
Arnaud replied in a cold tone like he always does, "And what Einstein?"
"Doesn't that mean someone's inside the supermarket? They could open the door."
"Holy, you might be right," Philippe said as he had enough of Arnaud answering in a horrible manner.
Before they had a chance to signal anyone, a metallic sound came from the door. Didier then reached for the handle, and to everyone's surprise, it easily unlocked.
When he pushed it open, the first thing he saw was the horrible amount of bodies scattered across the ground. Pool of blood roamed everywhere, dark and thick blood at that. Then, something moved in the distance, which made the group freeze. A voice followed, one they knew since they were in kindergarten.
"Guys? Why are you all here? I thought we said we would go to the bunker?"
It was Mathieu, carrying Gabriel's bag which was full of food and bandages that almost spilled from the top.
"Gimme that please."
Arnaud quickly snatched a bandage and some disinfectant.
"Holy shit, what happened to you?"
"Oh shut up, isn't it clear? I got stabbed all the way through by that monster"
"Anyways, did you kill it?" Responded Mathieu in an half offended, half worried voice.
The group then completely stopped moving, and with each passing second, Mathieu's fear grew as he understood the fact they were here wasn't because they were on the next step of Alexis's plan.
"Guys?"
Then, Philippe answered :
"No, the phantom is toying with us, it told us to run here and hide."
"Wait how did it tell you anything?"
Arnaud then cut the conversation and quickly reminded everyone that the phantom might come at any moment and probably wouldn't let them run any longer.
"Shouldn't we like... close the do-"
Before he finished his point, Alexis ran behind him and closed the door which automatically locked.
"But are you sure it's coming? I can't hear anything."
"Yes, he is. But anyway, where is Gabriel?"
"Oh, follow me. He's in the security room."
Even without immediate danger, some of group kept trembling from what they had just witnessed. After a few seconds of walking across the market along bodies, they entered a room where Gabriel stood. His eyes fixed on the cameras. Before anyone could greet him or even speak to him, he spoke.
"The phantom from earlier is at the door."
Mathieu leaned toward the screen to confirm it and just as Gabriel said, the phantom stood there, completely still and again, still smiling.
When it noticed the camera moving in his direction, it began to open its mouth, not wide, but just enough to let a voice slip through.
Then, the voice of a small girl came from the phantom.
"10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1. Daddy, did you hide? In any case, here I come."
Mathieu and Gabriel did not grasp the horror of what they were witnessing, but the others did, and it left them very unsettled.
The phantom then yet again formed its hand into a spear. Just before it reached the metal door, the phantom stopped. Its whole body began to tremble.
"What is it doing?" Didier asked.
The phantom tilted its head upward behind him, staring into the sky behind him it seemed to stare at only one thing. The phantom's body trembled more and more with each passing second.
The boys urged Gabriel to move the camera toward whatever it was looking at, but his answer only made things less comfortable.
"I cannot move the camera upwards, and I cannot angle it down either."
On the screen, the phantom hesitated for a long moment, shifting its gaze between the sky and the door it was barely touching. Then, it looked to the side and suddenly bolted, running as fast as it could before vanishing into the shadow of a tree.
What the boys did not know was that the phantom had been staring at the enormous crack in the sky. Within it, a light forming a blue star was shining. Whatever it was, it had driven the creature away and, in doing so, allowed the group to survive their first encounter of a phantom.